Fresh Air Sunday Oct 2, 2010 & Callicarpa

I’ll be on Fresh Air Sunday Oct 10 at 8:30 a.m. with the redoubtable Karen Gordon. We’ll be answering garden questions and thinking about this last glorious gasp of autumn.

Here is the plant of the week:

This is Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’or Beautyberry

This is a stunner of an autumn shrub.  The fountain-like stems are now heavy with these magnificent berries.

It needs to be planted in enough sun to develop the blooms (they loved the long hot miserable summer we lived through so here’s the reward).  It can take dappled light but I’ve found that having at least a long whack of morning sun really works well.

The flowers are a pinky  colour in early summer and to be honest I don’t really notice them all that much. But it’s the berries that make an impact.  At first against deep green gorgeous tapered leaves.  The deep purple fruits are a wonder.

Really must have company and in this case it’s a weird looking Japanese maple underplanted with Ajuga.  Water well going into late autumn